A method and an arrangement for controlling an internal combustion engine are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,692,472. Here, to ensure the operational reliability of the engine, a maximum permissible torque of the engine is formed at least on the basis of the position of an operator-controlled element actuated by the driver. This maximum permissible torque is compared to an actual torque of the engine. If the actual torque exceeds the maximum permissible torque, then a fault function of the control is assumed and measures are initiated to react to the fault, especially the cutoff of the metering of fuel to the engine, until the actual torque again drops below the maximum permissible torque. The monitoring of the basis of the maximum permissible torque is dependent upon the precision of the actual torque of the engine. The torque is computed on the basis of a quantity (for example, the supplied air mass) representing the load or charge. In this way, the precision is primarily dependent upon the precision of the load detection or charge detection. For a fault in the detection of the charge, more torque can be outputted by the engine than wanted by the driver notwithstanding the reliable torque comparison. This occurs, for example, when the quiescent fault results in an air mass signal, load signal or charge signal which is too small so that the actual torque of the engine computed therefrom is too small compared to the actually outputted torque.